Northern lights

I am so jealous, would love to do this
 
It was an awesome experience. Iceland was expensive when we was there, but seeing the AB made the holiday a success.

We went on the golden circle tour and whale watching which was excellent! Would def recommend that.
 
You're SO lucky you got to see the lights, I want to kill you! :p I can't wait to go back...

[EDIT] Sorry, should have left some feedback...

For something like the Northern Lights you would have wanted to lower your ISO as much as possible (usually 160 for me) and a very small aperture anything between f/18 and f/22 would do just fine. Then you'd have to work out your exposure time, which isn't particularly easy when you're shooting in the dark. To yield best results I imagine you'd be exposing for a couple minutes or more, but again, it's difficult to judge unless you're actually there. If you have a light meter with you then you can use some basic maths to calculate the best exposure for the shot, other than that it's just guess work! You'd need a shutter release cable or wireless trigger and a tripod. You'd also want to enable long exposure noise reduction in your settings.

As for your other shots, they mostly seem underexposed and a little blurry in places. Don't be afraid to raise your ISO settings a little higher so that you can use a faster shutter speed. Also what kind of lenses were you using? Remember that your depth of field is controlled by the aperture in your lens, so adjusting that setting can give you all kinds of different results depending on how you want your shots to look.
 
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You can see here how a long exposure (and tripod) aided in capturing the Hallgrímskirkja church at night. The shot over the Fjord was also dimly lit (twilight between sunset and darkness) so a tripod was also used. The original scene looked nothing like the picture out of the camera!
 
Eddzz!! said:
You're SO lucky you got to see the lights, I want to kill you! :p I can't wait to go back...

[EDIT] Sorry, should have left some feedback...

For something like the Northern Lights you would have wanted to lower your ISO as much as possible (usually 160 for me) and a very small aperture anything between f/18 and f/22 would do just fine. Then you'd have to work out your exposure time, which isn't particularly easy when you're shooting in the dark. To yield best results I imagine you'd be exposing for a couple minutes or more, but again, it's difficult to judge unless you're actually there. If you have a light meter with you then you can use some basic maths to calculate the best exposure for the shot, other than that it's just guess work! You'd need a shutter release cable or wireless trigger and a tripod. You'd also want to enable long exposure noise reduction in your settings.
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Have to disagree. You need to keep your exposure time to about the 15 second mark. You need a fast lens wide open f2.8 ish. I would have thought with an iso of about 800 to give the shutter speed you require
 
zeb said:
Have to disagree. You need to keep your exposure time to about the 15 second mark. You need a fast lens wide open f2.8 ish. I would have thought with an iso of about 800 to give the shutter speed you require
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Is that from experience? Why would you shoot wide-open? I mean, it's not a big deal, but it's less than convenient - you'd surely want a large depth of field? Also an ISO of 800 over even a short exposure like 15 seconds would still be noticeably noisy on an APS-C size sensor.

[EDIT] Actually, thinking about it more, I guess a shorter exposure would yield better results when thinking about how the Aurora moves... Hmm...
 
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I went to Iceland in September- it was around 0 to -2C at night and I didn't have any problems with my camera freezing up, however I was not out for too long due to the weather being too cold! Enjoy it, it's an amazing experience :)
 
RE: Condensation. Putting your camera in a seal-able plastic bag with a couple of sachets of silica gel should sort any issues out. The majority of condensation will form on the outside of the bag and the silica gel will catch any that doesn't
 
^ Read the thread guys, he's been and gone!
 
Eddzz!! said:
For something like the Northern Lights you would have wanted to lower your ISO as much as possible (usually 160 for me) and a very small aperture anything between f/18 and f/22 would do just fine. Then you'd have to work out your exposure time, which isn't particularly easy when you're shooting in the dark. To yield best results I imagine you'd be exposing for a couple minutes or more, but again, it's difficult to judge unless you're actually there. If you have a light meter with you then you can use some basic maths to calculate the best exposure for the shot, other than that it's just guess work! You'd need a shutter release cable or wireless trigger and a tripod. You'd also want to enable long exposure noise reduction in your settings.
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I'm afraid I'd have to disagree with that view as well. Whilst I appreciate the OP has gone, form anyone else coming to this thread for tips I found ISO800-1600, f3.5 or wider if you have it (I was using a Conon 10-22) and anywhere between 20-40 seconds worked for me.

At ISO 160 and f18 as suggested, in the conditions I was in (see my avatar), you would have needed over 5 minutes! I would also disagree about the long exposure NR. I used that the first few shots I took of the lights, but if you are working with a 30-50 second exposure, your camera then locks up for the same amount of time preventing a shot.

Given how the lights can develop, that could be frustrating. so I turned it off.
 
Thanks guys! Just the type of discussion I wanted. I hope this thread helps anyone else who goes.

My pics are a little blurry, did not use tripod, and when I did use it, the wind moved it slightly. I need to invest in a better one and in remote release cable.
 
I'm in iceland at the moment and I haven't had any problems with a canon 5dII despite it being -24 in myvatn yesterday.
For aurora shots, I've been using 800 up to 1600 ISO and adjusting exposure time accordingly between 5 and 30 seconds.
Edit - just seen that it's an old thread
 
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orac said:
I'm in iceland at the moment and I haven't had any problems with a canon 5dII despite it being -24 in myvatn yesterday.
For aurora shots, I've been using 800 up to 1600 ISO and adjusting exposure time accordingly between 5 and 30 seconds.
Edit - just seen that it's an old thread
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Not an old thread it's still running. Don't forgot to post some shots.
 
Considering the f stop numbers people have mentioned here, I better invest in a better lens!
 
ap0thecary said:
Considering the f stop numbers people have mentioned here, I better invest in a better lens!
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I'm off to Iceland early March, so fingers crossed I'll see the lights.
I figured it was a good reason to grab a CZ 16-35 f/2.8 when one came up s/h recently :D

Lots of useful hints and tips on this and the other threads, just hope I remember it all when I'm there!
 
One suggestion if you ate going in March - try out the process by doing some night photographer on a clear night here in the UK - if you can get a shot of about 10 seconds with nice, clear, round stars that are razor sharp then you will probably be OK for an aurora shoot in Iceland. It's always a good idea practice this as shooting in the dark for the first time is a recipe for all sorts of things going wrong.
If you follow this link you will find a number of my Iceland pictures.
http://500px.com/imagesinspiredbynature
Hope this helps
James
 
jbw said:
One suggestion if you ate going in March - try out the process by doing some night photographer on a clear night here in the UK - if you can get a shot of about 10 seconds with nice, clear, round stars that are razor sharp then you will probably be OK for an aurora shoot in Iceland. It's always a good idea practice this as shooting in the dark for the first time is a recipe for all sorts of things going wrong.
James
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Good suggestion, I'll try that if I get the chance
 
Eddzz!! said:
Made my heart sink a bit, but this guys photos of Iceland are breathtakingly beautiful...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/icelandaurora/with/8677810809
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That is who I have two photographic tours booked with for my trip at the end of March! :D

If anyone else is out there and would like to join, there are 3 spaces to fill. I have booked the Golden Circle for Monday March 31st and a two day tour to Jokulsarlon Ice Lagoon for April 1st/2nd.


.
 
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Tigger.ufo said:
That is who I have two photographic tours booked with for my trip at the end of March! :D

If anyone else is out there and would like to join, there are 3 spaces to fill. I have booked the Golden Circle for Monday March 31st and a two day tour to Jokusarlon Ice Lagoon for April 1st/2nd.


.
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If I could afford it I'd come with you :(
 
jbw said:
One suggestion if you ate going in March - try out the process by doing some night photographer on a clear night here in the UK - if you can get a shot of about 10 seconds with nice, clear, round stars that are razor sharp then you will probably be OK for an aurora shoot in Iceland. It's always a good idea practice this as shooting in the dark for the first time is a recipe for all sorts of things going wrong.
If you follow this link you will find a number of my Iceland pictures.
http://500px.com/imagesinspiredbynature
Hope this helps
James
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Again, splendid pics!
 
Eddzz!! said:
Is that from experience? Why would you shoot wide-open? I mean, it's not a big deal, but it's less than convenient - you'd surely want a large depth of field? Also an ISO of 800 over even a short exposure like 15 seconds would still be noticeably noisy on an APS-C size sensor.

[EDIT] Actually, thinking about it more, I guess a shorter exposure would yield better results when thinking about how the Aurora moves... Hmm...
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You shoot at infinity, dof isnt a problem as the aurora is distant. Widest possible aperture for shortest possible exposure time, I've used f1.4 for 6 secs at iso 1600 and got great results.
 
Just back from iceland saw the lights twice and photographed so many amazing things in between that my head is still spinning. The weather was perfect and the winter sun perfect!
 
ChrisHeathcote said:
I'm already banking browny points for next year :)
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Iceland really is a photographers paradise if the weather right! The winter sun is like unending golden hours and there is a stunning scene around every corner!

Big thanks to everyone here who gave me pointers the samyang 14mm was worth every penny and the manfrotto befree was more than man enough for the job and my 'default' setting of 20 seconds f2.8 ISO 1600 was a great way to start!
 
jbw said:
Excellent - can't wIt to see some of your images !
James
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Will do a thread but I'm nothing like a good enough photographer to do it justice! The northern lights were a particular challenge as you need to keep your cool to get the best shots and I was like a kid in a candy shop the adrenaline kept me awake hours after they had gone!
 
a1ex2001 said:
Will do a thread but I'm nothing like a good enough photographer to do it justice! The northern lights were a particular challenge as you need to keep your cool to get the best shots and I was like a kid in a candy shop the adrenaline kept me awake hours after they had gone!
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They had that effect on me. There's just something magical about them.
 
Goody13 said:
They had that effect on me. There's just something magical about them.
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I've wanted to see them for years and to be in iceland during a storm of that strength was incredible I found myself staring at the sky and forgetting the camera existed!
 
a1ex2001 said:
Will do a thread but I'm nothing like a good enough photographer to do it justice! The northern lights were a particular challenge as you need to keep your cool to get the best shots and I was like a kid in a candy shop the adrenaline kept me awake hours after they had gone!
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I can share that experience with you! I was the same. Can't wait to see your pics!
 
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